INTRODUCTION

Community development is a broad term that means many things to many people. In its narrowest conception, community development refers to the physical revitalization of neighborhoods sometimes referred to as bricks and mortar development. In its broadest conception, community development refers to rebuilding communities by increasing human and social capital in addition to physical redevelopment. Broadly defined, community development includes an almost limitless range of activities such as housing (development, redevelopment, advocacy), economic development, social service provisions and referral, community organizing, education (preschool through college), job training, and banking (credit unions, individual development accounts, financial planning, and advocacy).

Through a combination of literature, discussions, lectures, films, guest speakers, and field trips, we will review the history and evolution of community development theory and practice and explore challenges to the field. In the first two weeks, we will look at the context for community development including economic transformation, urban decline, policy, and community responses. From there we will look at the origin(s) of the community development movement and explore the political and social forces driving community organizations and public policy. We will take a look at the community development corporation (CDC), strategies CDCs use to revitalize neighborhoods, and assess their contribution to neighborhood revitalization. In the third section, we will make our way through challenges to community development in the 90s. Finally, we will end on a positive note with a look at successful organizing and community development in the 00s. The last two weeks of class are devoted to student research paper presentations.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

Participation
No matter what your background, this is an excellent opportunity to engage in debates about community development. Even though we are all reading the same literature, who we are—our gender, race, ethnicity, class, and prior experiences--shape the questions we ask and how we view the literature. This will be an open forum for you to raise questions, debate, and figure out what you make of this field. I anticipate lively class discussions.

Reflection Papers
Each week, write a critical two page reflection on the readings for that week and bring it with you to class. Do more than describe the readings; engage in a debate. What disturbs you? What do you want to explore? In each reflection paper, identify a question about the issue(s) discussed in the reading. We’ll use the questions to guide our classroom discussion. (You’re off the hook for one reflection paper. All others are due on time, in class. If you don’t turn it in, you don’t get credit).

Research Paper
Identify a current challenge to community development and write a 15-20 page paper.

Task 1. Identify an area that interests you and develop your hypotheses
Task 2: Develop research questions to test your hypotheses
Task 3. Identify your methods
Task 4. Review the literature
Task 5. Conduct the research
Task 5. Develop an outline
Task 6. Write your paper
Task 7. Create your presentation

As you know, entering M.C.R.P. students are now required to complete a paper (professional report requirement) to graduate. This is an excellent opportunity to develop the paper that will become part of your academic and professional portfolio.

Materials
Course Pack
Available at Pequod Copy on Somerset Street

Ferguson, Ronald F. and William T. Dickens, Ed. Urban Problems and Community Development. 1999. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press.

Deliverable Deadlines:

• Reflection Papers
  Weekly
  
• Research Paper Submissions
  Research Proposal October 1
  First Draft November 19th
  Final Draft December 10th
  
• Presentations
  December 10th and 17th

Grading
Participation (20%)
Reflection Papers (30%)
Research paper (50%)

Class Schedule and Activities

PART I.  URBAN DECLINE AND STRATEGIES FOR REVITALIZATION

Anglin, Roland and Charles Hill. No date. “The Changing Nature of Community-Based Development.” New Brunswick: The New Jersey Public Policy Research Institute, Rutgers University.

Wilder, Craig Steven. 2000. Chapter 9: “Vulnerable People, Undesirable Places: The New Deal and the Making of the Brooklyn Ghetto.” In A Covenant with Color: Race and Social Power in Brooklyn. New York: Columbia University Press. 175-217.

Robert Stepto. 1998. Part I, chapter 3. “Woodlawn.” In Blue as the Lake. Boston: Beacon Press. 58- 75.

Ferguson & Dickens. Chapters 1 & 3.

Beauregard, Robert 2001. “Federal Policy and Postwar Urban Decline: A Case of Government Complicity.” Housing Policy Debate. 12 (1) http://www.fanniemaefoundation.org/programs/hpd/v12i1-index.shtml

Teaford, Jon. 2000. “Urban Renewal and Its Aftermath.” V11 n2 Housing Policy Debate 443-465 http://www.fanniemaefoundation.org/programs/hpd/v12i1-index.shtml

Gittell, Marilyn. 2002. “Community-Based Organizations and Civil Society.” Paper Presented at the Race and Civil Society Conference. Racine, Wisconsin, January 11-12.

Smith, Steven Rathgeb. 2001. “Nonprofit Organizations in Urban Politics and Policy.” Policy Studies Review V18 n4 (Winter):7-28.

Ferguson & Dickens. Chapters 2 & 6.

PART II. COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT MATURES

Ferguson & Dickens. Chapters 4 & 5.

Vidal, Avis. 1996. “CDCs as Agents of Neighborhood Change: The State of the Art.” In W. Dennis Keating, Norman Krumholz, and Philip Star. Revitalizing Urban Neighborhoods. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas. 149-163.

Goetz, Edward. 1996. “The Community-based Housing Movement and Progressive Local Politics.” In W. Dennis Keating, Norman Krumholz, and Philip Star. Revitalizing Urban Neighborhoods. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas. 164-178.

Bratt, Rachel. 1996. “Community-based Housing Organizations and The Complexity of Community Responsiveness.” In W. Dennis Keating, Norman Krumholz, and Philip Star. Revitalizing Urban Neighborhoods. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas. 179-190.

Film
Timeline: The History of Community Development Policy in the United States.

La Casa de Don Pedro, Newark NJ & Tour of Newark

Meet at La Casa de Don Pedro
75 Park Avenue
Newark, NJ 07104
973-482-8312

Koschinsky, Julia. 1998. “Challenging the Third Sector Housing Approach: The Impact of Federal Policies (1980-1996).” V20 n2 Journal of Urban Affairs 117-135.

Stoecker, Randy. 2001. “Community Development and Community Organizing: Apples and Oranges? Chicken and Egg?” http://comm-org.utoledo.edu/drafts/orgdevppr2c.htm

Yin, Jordan. 1998. “The Community Development Industry System: A Case Study of Politics and Institutions in Cleveland, 1967-1997.” V20 n2 Journal of Urban Affairs 137-157.

de Souza Briggs, Xavier. 1998. “Culture, Power, and Communication in Community Planning.” 18 Journal of Planning Education and Research 1-13.
http://ksghome.harvard.edu/~.xbriggs.academic.ksg/doing%20democracy%20JPER.htm

Liuo, Y. Thomas and Robert C. Stroh. 1998. “Community Development Intermediary Systems in the United States: Origins, Evolution, and Functions.” V9 n3 Housing Policy Debate 575-594. http://www.fanniemaefoundation.org/programs/hpd/v12i1-index.shtml

Holland, Barbara. 2001. “Characteristics of Engaged Institutions and Sustainable Partnerships, and Effective Strategies for Change.” http://www.oup.org/researchandpubs/engaged.pdf

Elwood, Sarah and Helga Leitner. 2003. “GIS and Spatial Knowledge Production For Neighborhood Revitalization: Negotiating State Priorities and Neighborhood Visions.” V25 n2 Journal of Urban Affairs 139-157.

PolicyLink Toolkits. Try a few. In particular, Equitable Development Tooklit: Beyond Gentrification. http://www.policylink.org/EquitableDevelopment/ . Try out the Community Mapping kit.

Video
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Building Partnerships: Building Futures. CD-ROM. Office of University Partnerships.

RCOPC Website http://policy.rutgers.edu/cupr/rcopc

Ferguson & Dickens. Chapter 10

Martinez, Sylvia. 2000. “The Housing Act of 1949: Its Place in the Realization of the American Dream of Homeownership.” V11 n2 Housing Policy Debate 467-487. http://www.fanniemaefoundation.org/programs/hpd/v12i1-index.shtml

McClure, Kirk. 2000. “The Low-Income Housing Tax Credit as an Aid to Housing Finance: How Well Has it Worked?” V11 n1 Housing Policy Debate 91-114. http://www.fanniemaefoundation.org/programs/hpd/v12i1-index.shtml

Orlebeke, Charles. 2000. “The Evolution of Low Income Housing Policy 1949-1999.” V11 n2 Housing Policy Debate. 489-520. http://www.fanniemaefoundation.org/programs/hpd/pdf/hpd_1102_orlebeke.pdf

Popkin, Susan. 2003. Testimony before U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Financial Services. H.R. 1614 HOPE VI Reauthorization and Small Community Mainstreet Revitalization Housing Act. April 29. http://www.urban.org/url.cfm?ID=900614

Paterson, NJ
Affordable Housing Walk-A-Thon
See historic Paterson, meet with three non profit development organizations and the Paterson Housing Authority

Servon, Lisa. 1997. “Microenterprise Programs in U.S. Inner Cities: Economic Development or Social Welfare?” Economic Development Quarterly 11, n3 (May).

McCullough, Heather and Lisa Robinson. 2001. Sharing the Wealth: Resident Ownership Mechanisms. A PolicyLink Report.
http://www.knowledgeplex.org/kp/report/report/relfiles/ht_policylink-roms.pdf

Weber, Rachel and Janet Smith. 2001. “Assets and Neighborhoods: The Role of Individual Assets in Neighborhood Revitalization.” Fannie Mae Foundation Annual Housing Conference.

Ferguson & Dickens. Chapters 12 & 13

Stoecker, Randy. 1997. “The CDC Model of Urban Development: A Critique and An Alternative.” V19 n1 Journal of Urban Affairs 1-22.

Keating, Dennis. 1997. “The CDC Model of Urban Development, a Reply to Randy Stoecker.” V19 n1 Journal of Urban Affairs 29-33.

Bratt, Rachel. 1997. “CDCs: Contributions Outweight Contradictions, a Reply to Randy Stoecker.” V19 n1 Journal of Urban Affairs 23-28.

Stoecker, Randy. 1997. “Should We…Could We… Change the CDC Model? A Rejoinder.” V19 n1 Journal of Urban Affairs 35-44.

PART III. CHALLENGES TO COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

Glickman, Norman. 2003. “Transforming Community Organizations through Building Capacity.” Paper prepared for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Policy Development and Research.

Rohe, William M. and Rachel G. Bratt. 2003. "Failures, Downsizings, and Mergers among Community Development Corporations." V13 n1&2 Housing Policy Debate 1-46.

Squires, Gregory. 2003. “Introduction: The Rough Road to Reinvestment.” In Gregory D. Squires ed. Organizing Access to Capital: Advocacy and the Democratization of Financial Institutions. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. 1-26.

Dreier, Peter. 2003. “Protest, Progress, and the Politics of Reinvestment.” In Gregory D. Squires ed. Organizing Access to Capital: Advocacy and the Democratization of Financial Institutions. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. 188-220.

Groarke, Margaret. 2002. “Organizing Against Overfinancing: The Northwest Bronx Coalition Campaign Against Freddie Mac.” COMM-Org Papers 2003. http://www.comm-org.utoledo.edu/papers2003/groarke.htm

Engel, Kathleen C. and Patricia A. McCoy. 2002. “A Tale of Three Markets: The Law and Economics of Predatory Lending.” V80 n6 Texas Law Review 1259-1366. (available on the course website).

Videos
Fighting Predatory Lending, Video Report from Philadelphia. http://www.acorn.org/acorn10/predatorylending/reports.htm

Your Loan is Denied, produced by Gary Covino in collaboration with the Center for Investigative Reporting and FRONTLINE.

Walking tour of Harlem

Duany, Andres. 2001. “Three Cheers for 'Gentrification.'” v12 n3 The American Enterprise April. May 36-9.

Kennedy, Maureen and Paul Leonard. 2001. “Dealing with Neighborhood Change: A Primer on Gentrification and Policy Choices.” A Discussion Paper Prepared for the Brookings Institution Center on Urban and Metropolitan Policy and Policy Link (April). http://www.brook.edu/es/urban/gentrification/gentrificationexsum.htm

Taylor, Henry Louis Jr. and Sam Cole. 2001. “Structural Racism and Efforts to Radically Reconstruct The Inner-City Built Environment.” Paper presented at the 43rd Annual Conference, Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning, Cleveland. November 8-11.

Smith, Neil. 2002. “New Globalism, New Urbanism: Gentrification as Global Urban Strategy.” 34 3 Antipode 427-450.

Weber, Rachel. 2002. “Extracting Value from the City: Neoliberalism and Urban Redevelopment.” 34 3 Antipode Summer.

“Gentrification with a Twist” 2003. A Shelterforce Roundtable on PBS.org. ShelterForce Issue #129, May/June 2003. Beyond Gentrification: Strategies for Managing Community Change. http://www.pbs.org/pov/pov2003/flagwars/special_roundtable.html

Film
Flag Wars by Linda Goode Bryant and Laura Poitras. P.O.V. on P.B.S.

PART IV. POWER IN THE 00s

DeFilippis, James. 2001. “Our Resistance Must Be As Local As Capitalism: Place, Scale and the Anti-Globalization Protest Movement.” Paper presented on COMM-ORG: The On-Line Conference on Community Organizing and Development. http://comm-org.utoledo.edu/papers.htm

Osterman, Paul. 2002. Gathering Power: The Future of Progressive Politics in America. Boston: Beacon Press. Chapters 1, 2, & 6.

Cohen, Cathy, Marilyn Gittell, and Jocelyn Sargent. 2003. Report on the Ford Foundation Fund for Community Organizing. Phase 1. Part II.

STUDENT RESEARCH PAPER PRESENTATIONS